Former heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury has accused Deontay Wilder of running scared ahead of their WBC title fight in December.
'The Gypsy King' will challenge the American at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, but it looked like the fight might come early when the two behemoths had to be separated at a tense press conference in London on Tuesday (NZT).
Wilder cut a brash figure on the podium, refusing to yield under a verbal barrage of bravado from the Englishman.
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Fury though says it's a different story when the cameras are turned off, claiming Wilder crumbles into his shell in more private moments.
"He hasn't got what he says he's got. I see fear in Deontay Wilder, I could sense his heartbeat through his suit," Fury said.
"I know when a man's scared – Wilder's terrified of me. He's timid when he's around me – looks at the floor, doesn’t make eye contact, all that sort of stuff.
"Even when he's around me, off-stage."
However way Fury wants to spin it, Wilder has serious credentials behind him. 'The Bronze Bomber' has 39 knockouts in 40 fights, having stopped every one of his 39 opponents.
That devastating record doesn't shake Fury, who has been in the ring with some of the biggest names of the last decade.
"If it's going to be his easiest fight then he should knock me out in one round, shouldn't he? With one punch," Fury said.
"(Wladimir) Klitschko was a proven puncher who banged me right in the chin – it didn't do anything. He was catching me throughout the fight with big shots – it didn't do a thing.
"Everyone who is a massive puncher can't take one back, because they load up with everything, leave themselves wide open, and wallop. All of a sudden they're looking up at the stars."
Wilder declared it was all a case of mind games from the 31-year-old, and that he refuses to engage until the bell rings in Los Angeles.
"Guys try to get into my head because my mind's so strong," Wilder claims.
"He thinks that by talking like he did with Klitschko, and getting inside his head, it's going to be the same thing, but I'm a different person. You can't do that with me."
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